so - now they want to delay the transition date from Feb 17th to June? What in God's name is the reason for that.....I guess being warned for close to a year was not long enough for allot of the general public? Why is it thought that a few more months will help the procrastinators be ready - I guess time will tell.

It seems that there aren't enough converter boxes to go around. Millions of homes, mostly low income elderly, will not have any TV after the 17th. I think it's important that this segment of the population have TV. They need the daily news and basic entertainment. These things are important for their day to day existance.

There are plenty of converter boxes, the problem is they ran out of funding on the coupon program.

Really, if you were warned for well over a year (this was already extended once and has been in the works for over 6 years now) and you never got around to requesting a coupon until one month before the drop dead date I'd say you're tough out of luck.

Even funnier, they extended the deadline but didn't give any more money to the coupon program, so, what exactly changed? In addition, the stations can still choose to shut off analog on the original date, many of which will because it's expensive to power both signals.

All in all, it's a stupid waste of time and I suspect they have MUCH better things they can be doing like figuring out how to spend a couple more trillion dollars we don't have...

THANK YOU KERRY - now I feel more justified in thinking that for the most part people are just not good at planning for things - even with ample warning - I too believe that after all this time if they are not prepared for the switch - tough luck

I agree in general. However, how many of the people you are referring to are going to understand any more with the few extra months? Maybe 1 to 5 percent?

Also, if I remember correctly the old spectrum has already been sold for reuse. The longer we keep delaying the switch the longer before new services for cellular and wireless internet can start testing and using the newly available frequencies...

Kerry, it seems that there is a bigger effort is being made to reach the elderly that don't understand. Another few months isn't going to be a big deal. You have to remember they didn't grow up with the advanced technology you have. How would you feel if all you had to look forward to all day was Pat and Vanna and suddenly they weren't there for you! (I know eye roll on your end.)

I liked other ideas I've heard better though. I don't think adding a few months is going to do the trick unless they ship a converter box with every social security check...

However, if you want to get everyone's attention, add a month but make it so all the analog channels go black and white. That way, people still see their tv shows, sports, news, etc. but they definitely know something is wrong and can ask people about it. Then run the DTV commercials in color.

Just curious as to what others think about the digital transmission now being broadcast.I like to refer to it as the "twitchy and scratchy transition," since the few channels I do pick up often cannot adjust to blowing winds or clouds passing over. This is the exact reason I got rid of dish network a number of years ago. Every time a storm would pass through I'd lose reception. Perfect.I live in Tomahawk and have purchased the converter box and a new indoor antenna. I no longer receive Wausau channels and the Rhinelander transmission in my opinion is much worse than the analog signal that was broadcast before.I contacted a Wausau station and was informed a new antenna was being put up north of here to alleviate the problem. They said it would be ready in a month. That was two months ago and I still cannot pick up the channel.To compound the problem, they're now saying the signal will get worse this spring when the leaves come on. I can't imagine the current reception getting any worse.I haven't heard of any alternatives being discussed other than purchasing cable or satellite. I can't put up an outdoor antenna, and I typically rescan my box with my morning breakfast.Perhaps I should be posting this on another thread on the message board. Anybody read any good books lately?

Did the new antenna you purchased have an amplifier? At our cabin we get exactly zero digital channels without the amp. Turn the amp on and we get ones I didn't even know existed (not new digital channels).

It's a website the shows some tv shows and movies for free. Most popular shows they have for a few episodes back, so if you missed something you can go back. Basically you watch shows when you want, but current episodes take a day or so to be uploaded.

You can also simply watch most shows on their own websites (this is how I keep up with most of them now). Most companies post them the day after they air (House is the only one I know of that waits 8 days).

Or, if it's between that and paying for cable you can buy them through iTunes and not have to watch any commercials for $1.99 each (non-hd, $2.99 for HD).

Thanks for the advice Kerry and neup99.Hopefully all the bugs will get worked out soon as I learned Channel 9 and Channel 7 out of Wausau won't be going to full power until sometime in June. If I can't pick up the channels then, I guess I'll be getting an amp. If I still can't pick up the channels, then it looks like I'll be checking in on hulu. Also, the walleye run is really picking up here in Tomahawk and the musky season begins in only a few short months. Then there's camping trips to get ready for.It's nice to have options.